


In a Rut

by quiet__tiger



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Drama, Gen, Joker loves Batman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 08:41:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10850424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiet__tiger/pseuds/quiet__tiger
Summary: It's never good to let Joker get too bored.





	In a Rut

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "Same Old, Same Old."
> 
> Originally posted to Livejournal 22nd-Nov-2012.

“Harley! What day is it?”

“Tuesday, Mistah J. Why?”

“I could have sworn it was Friday.”

“Nope. NCIS is on.”

“Isn’t that on every night?”

“Only on USA.”

“And I thought _I_ was in a rut.”

And Joker was. Every week was beginning to feel like one long day with brief periods of unconsciousness. Get up, eat, commit crimes, read and scheme, murder, eat, sleep. It was tiring and blah.

“We could do something new, Puddin’. We could watch CSI instead.”

“We need to cancel our cable.”

“We steal our cable.”

“We need to kill the people whose cable we’re stealing so I don’t have to watch more crime shows. We _are_ crime shows, except we do them better.”

“I tried watchin’ the Ponies but you threatened to kill them…”

Sighing heavily, Joker breathed out, “The _bronies_. I have nothing against the ponies themselves.” Pacing in front of their battered TV, another alphabet-inspired show’s credits playing, Joker muttered to himself. “I can’t believe Batsy hasn’t been around. I haven’t been able to get his attention. Almost like he doesn’t want me anymore. I’m not _good_ enough for him anymore.”

Harley kept shifting on the couch to see the TV behind Joker as he walked in front of it. “I would think you’d like it if Batsy left you alone. All the better for your plannin’.”

Freezing and pressing his hand to his chest, Joke exclaimed, “Sacrilege! If I don’t have the Dork Knight’s attention, than whose do I have?”

“You have mine, baby!”

“But I want it from someone who matters.” Joker started pacing again. “That would help, I’m sure. I’d feel less useless and rotting if I could get Batsy to like me again. I need the excitement he brings to my life! But what can I do? It’s got to be something big, something that tells him I’m tired of waiting for him to realize how much he misses me. What can I do...”

~*~

A week later, City Hall burned to the ground, every fan at the basketball game against Metropolis was poisoned, and the Gotham River was flooded with green chemicals that killed the flora and fauna.

Joker got his wish and had five bones broken and eight others bruised by Batman before he was thrown in Arkham again.

Where Joker was confronted with the same dirty brick walls, same bland food, same bland doctors, same pretty if predictable pills. New guards, always new guards considering the typical ways in which he escaped the previous ones.

With little to do but talk about his feelings and plot, Joker generally did the latter. Soon he’d be out and ready for Batsy’s attentions again. And he’d better not be ignored for so long next time, or he’d have to trump himself again.

Batman would just have to learn to keep Joker on his toes.


End file.
